Tom Riley, Ben Miller Join “Doctor Who”

“Da Vinci’s Demons” leading man Tom Riley along with former “Primeval” and “Death in Paradise” star Ben Miller are both set to guest star on the upcoming Peter Capaldi-led eighth season of “Doctor Who”.

Both actors, who are also lifelong Whovians, are set to appear in episodes penned by Mark Gatiss. Riley’s role will be in the season’s third episode “Robots of Sherwood”. Miller’s role is said to be that of a “storming villain”.

In other Who-related news, the now departed Matt Smith revealed at a recent WonderCon Q&A that the regeneration into Capaldi we saw was quite different to the various other versions that were shot. Smith says:

“We shot so many versions of that. We shot much more brutal, emotional and troubling takes and stories in there. The actual take that is used is an interesting one for me. To be honest, although it’s still a great episode, I think perhaps of what we shot and what was cut I would have chosen differently.”

Filming on the twelve episode new season began back in January and is currently approaching the halfway point. No premiere dates have yet been set, though sometime in August/September is looking likely.